One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Films of 1991: Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

The
difference between the two Bill and Ted movies is a profound and noteworthy
one.

Bill
and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) is a low-brow comedy about two
dumb dudes from San Dimas. Bill
and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) by contrast is a high-brow comedy about
the same dumb dudes.

Bill
and Ted’s Bogus Journey
is not only more intricately plotted than its predecessor was -- featuring an authentically Orphean
journey to the Underworld -- but its comedy is much more layered and
sophisticated too.Before it finishes up, this film jabs science
fiction tropes, and Star Trek (1966-1969), specifically, but also patiently (and humorously) develops a satire based on Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece, The Seventh Seal (1967).

The
result is a film that never has a dull moment, and is never less than searingly funny. The big problem with Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adventure is that, outside the Napoleon character -- who was given
substantial screen time -- none of the historical figures the duo encountered
came across as real characters, only one-note jokes.

In
Bogus
Journey, Bill and Ted meet Death -- the Grim Reaper (William Sadler) --
and he is a great character: vain, insecure, over-confident and silly as
hell. The two (alien?) scientists from
Heaven (!), Station also grab the spotlight for a while, and are genuinely
amusing.

Finally,
the creative decision to add a real villain in the person of De Nomolos (Joss Ackland) -- someone dead set against Bill and Ted’s inevitable success -- grants the film a sense of
urgency and import that the original lacked.

It
is relatively rare for a genre sequel to thoroughly out-strip the source material, but in the
case of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, that’s the real story. The film’s cerebral approach to comedy
elevates this 1991 film, and expands the reach of the franchise in dramatic fashion.

In
fact, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey is so good it’s a genuine shame a
second sequel has never been produced.

“Get
down and give me infinity!”

Bill
Preston (Alex Winter) and Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) approach “the second
crucial point in their destiny,” the San Dimas Battle of the Bands…which is
televised.

But in the far future world that worships them, the evil De Nomolos (Ackland) sends homicidal Bill and Ted lookalike
robots back in time to sabotage the duo’s chances at the show, and --
preferably -- kill them. Rufus (George Carlin) manages to enter the time vortex
after the robots, but is soon determined to be missing.

Back in the 20th century, the
two robots do their dirty work. They drive Bill and Ted out to Vasquez Rocks
and murder them.

Now restless spirits,
Bill and Ted attempt to possess the living, and communicate at a séance,
and then end up relegated to the pits of Hell.

They
escape from Hell by challenging the Grim Reaper (Sadler) to a game, or several
games, to be more accurate. They beat
him at Twister (following games of Battleship and Clue), and force Death to bring
them back to life. The Grim Reaper complies, and then
takes them to Heaven, where Bill and Ted petition God to help defeat the evil
robots.

God
provides a great scientist/creature called “Station” to help out, but the
Battle of the Bands is nearing, and the evil robots have captured the
princesses!

“I
think we’re in our own personal Hell.”

Like
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey gets a lot of
mileage out of the boys’ manner of expression. It was odd and amusing hearing them use
surfer speak in various historical contexts in the first film, but even funnier to witness them
address beings of Heaven and Hell in this one. “How’s it going, Beelzabub?” for instance,
or “How’s it hanging, Death?” Also, it’s
impossible not to laugh at the moment here in which Bill and Ted pull a Uranus joke
on the Almighty Lord. And,-- ridiculously -- this moment comes after they have mugged peaceful souls arriving in Heaven and
stolen their clothes.

But
Bill and Ted’s manner of speech isn’t the only joke worth noting here, and that’s
what makes Bogus Journey so much fun. This films throws up the sci-fi cliché or trope of evil android duplicates, and
then puts them in a plot that directly reflects a Star Trek episode. Specifically, Bill and Ted watch “Arena” on
TV...the episode with Kirk fighting the Gorn at Vasquez Rocks. We view footage of William Shatner at that famous
natural landmark on their TV set. Then, in the very next
scene, we get identical shots of Bill and Ted at the same locale, fighting
their own enemy.

Later,
the target for satire is Ingmar Bergman’s lugubrious The Seventh Seal. In that film, Max Von Sydow’s character,
Antonius Block, plays a chess game with Death -- a monk-like, bald-figure in a
black cowl -- for his survival. The chess
game is a symbol in the Swedish film, and it is believed, by the movie's characters, that no force can beat
death. For humans, it is always check and mate, sooner or later.

In
Bill and Ted, however, Death plays the dudes in a variety of board games, and
loses every match. The film features a
very funny scene involving several different popular games as Death is beaten -- a terrible
player, apparently -- again and again. The final
interlude of this montage involves Twister.

Other
scenes also hit just the right notes. There’s a short scene near the beginning
of the film when Bill and Ted -- now dead -- possess the bodies of two police
officers in their fifties (played by Hal Linden Jr., and Roy Brocksmith). Suddenly
these aging, balding men in their fifties begin gesticulating and talking like
surfers, and the scene earns some big laughs.

The
scenes in Hell don’t last that long, but manage to be both amusing and
disturbing. Bill, for example, must
attend to his ancient, hairy-lipped, lip-smacking grandmother…who wants a sloppy
wet kiss. And Ted contends with a
demonic, animatronic Easter Bunny.

They also go to the hellish equivalent of Military School, where they are ordered to drop and do "infinity" push ups.

The
difference in approach between the films is telling. There’s no real comedy in the time travel scenes of the original, wherein Bill and Ted meet Socrates, or Billy the
Kid for example. These moments are devoid of any pacing or real humor. They just kind of land with a thud.But in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, the
screenwriters move effortlessly from joke to joke, from Star Trek gag to Grim Reaper gag,
from, possession gag to Hell gag, to Heaven gag, and so on. The film veritably speeds by on its humorous
high points, and ends before you can think twice about any gaps in logic.

Alas,
there are a few. Rufus established in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure that
time runs on always-moving tracks. In
other words, the clock continues for time travelers even when they are
traveling. But in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey,
the duo violates this rule, able to leave the Battle of the Bands to learn how
to play guitar, and then come back to that very moment in time, as if no
duration elapsed. Given the rules established in the first film, how'd they manage this?A little more thought
about how time travel works in this universe would have made the film all the
stronger.

On the other hand, this sequel does expand the franchise universe in other memorable ways. We see the depths of Hell, the architecture of Heaven, and even Bill and Ted University in the future. The original film had all of human history to explore, and yet felt like a cheap TV show. By comparison, Bogus Journey is as big and weird as existence itself.

One
key reason that Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey succeeds goes by the name of
William Sadler. He’s been baddies (Die
Harder [1990]) and a supporting, fatherly figure (Roswell) before, but the actor demonstrates real comedy chops as the Grim Reaper in this film. He comes off as pathetic, desperate, and a
hanger-on, but ultimately, a worthy ally for the non-judgmental Bill and Ted. He's a great sidekick and foil for the duo, a would-be regal figure brought to a point far below his ostensible dignity.

Finally, this sequel conforms to one of my favorite rock movie cliches of all time: A great rock show can change the world (to quote Jack Black in 2004's School of Rock). That's very much what happens here, as Bill and Ted's music changes the fabric of reality itself. The film's end credits amusingly feature magazine covers charting the rise of Wyld Stallyns and Bill and Ted to ever greater heights (including a mission to Mars).

Bill
and Ted may go through Hell, literally, during their bogus journey, but for
this reviewer, the 1991 sequel is actually a lot closer to Heaven, with nearly every
crazy, inventive gag hitting its mark, and hitting it hard.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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